Hi all,

I know things have been quite for a while, but with spring in the air (it was actually above freezing when I got out of bed!), I figured some info was in order.

I got responses from a number of folks to my December questionnaire about what club activities folks are interested in.  The responses were a little surprising, but very helpful in figuring out what the club is going to try to be this year.

Last season, I think we tried to do too many things, and ended up with what I saw as an annoying level of “OK, who wants to do this?” messages going out too frequently.  This season, I think for big club activities, we’re going to be better off focusing on a small number of things.  Right now, my thoughts are:

1)       The spring camp for new(ish) triathletes, some time in late April or early May

2)       Support for the Blaine Blazing 8k on 4^th of July weekend (sorry, Dan, if I butchered the name)

This first of these is what has brought most people into the club, is a lot of fun to do, and I think is a very valuable event.  The second is a pretty amazing race that one of the club’s founders, Dan Hauck, has been producing for the past few years, and has been growing by leaps and bounds.

I’m also thinking, as the club changes, that a significant change in the membership structure is in order (based on both my experience with the club and your responses to the questionnaire).  Our dues have been going up for some time now, as we kept trying to do more and more, but the level of service the members got wasn’t going up in line with the dues (as I saw things, anyway).  So I’ve been considering the idea of converting the club to a free, opt-in organization.  You want to be a member, sign up on the list and you’re in.  There may be a form or two that a sponsor requires, and I’ll have to move our waiver of liability to the list subscription, but it really streamlines things.

The benefits of membership, then, are access to whatever sponsorship programs exist (still working on those for ’07) and communication with the club – email, public calendar, and a forum for likeminded folks of varying experience levels to bond with, bounce ideas off of, find training partners, etc.  Club swag (t-shirts, singlets, swim caps, etc.) would be available for purchase, and may or may not be required for any particular sponsor’s program (again, still working on it, but, for example, Erik’s required you to race in the TC Tri/Erik’s singlet for discounts last season).  That allows each member to set their own level of involvement, their own level of cost ($0 to as high as you want to go), and the level of camaraderie  they desire.

The camp, then, instead of being free to members, would have a cost associated with it (as it costs some money to produce), but it sticks with the self-selecting mode that seems pretty attractive.

So, my questions are:

1)       Are these two events things that people are interested in seeing supported?  Who would come to the camp?  Who might volunteer for the race?

2)       Is this membership/fee model attractive to you?

3)       Is there any particular program or sponsor availability that would put you over the edge (either for or against) the club?

Let me know what you think,

Rich